


Someplace Green

by MissCoppelia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Last Jedi
Genre: Canon Compliant, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Jedi Ben Solo, POV Ben Solo, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Young Ben Solo, Young Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 18:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17208743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCoppelia/pseuds/MissCoppelia
Summary: Keen to test his powers, young padawan Ben Solo Force Projects himself across the galaxy, searching for someone outside his uncle's temple.





	Someplace Green

**Author's Note:**

  * For [agirlfromniima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlfromniima/gifts).



Master Luke had been teaching the padawans how to feel the Force running throughout the galaxy for weeks. First they had started small, with things they knew already like sensing the Force’s pulse throughout nature. Then they had started attempting to alert each other using the Force. Slowly, Master Luke had them spread further and further apart so some of them were miles away as they tried to sense each other and communicate. But Ben was bored already.

It had always been a little too easy for him, he would master a new Force ability as soon as his uncle taught it to all the padawans at his level, deftly or with great power. He would often wind up helping the stragglers instead of getting to practice and further his limits. At 14 years of age, it made for a rather dull life. 

Luckily for him, Master Luke had assigned his class meditation time on their own this week. For most of his fellow Jedis-in-training that meant goofing off somewhere in the forest instead of meditating, enjoying their youth before becoming masters themselves. For Ben, it meant a chance to experiment. He often took a practice saber out to teach himself a new move, or sometimes he’d try more difficult challenges with his telekinesis skills. But today would be about finding someone else out there. Someone new who was in tune with the Force, and not a part of Master Luke’s temple. Someone who might be his friend.

 

Deep in the woods, Ben reached the spot he had chosen for his experiments. It was further than most of the other padawans dared to go, behind a rocky outcropping that blocked the noise of the temple, which only left the sounds of nature. He was only sure that his uncle knew about the place because his uncle seemed to know everything Ben did. It was suffocating. He needed to stretch his powers, to see what he could do.

“Ben, be mindful of where your thoughts stray,” Luke had warned just as he departed for a lesson with the younger padawans.

There were always warnings. Never for the others unless they did something truly stupid, just him. For them it was always a lesson, not a warning. But Ben was used to it by now. He had never put others at ease. Everyone seemed to be afraid of him, even his own parents. 

Ben hopped onto a flat stone and curled his legs under him as he slowed his breathing. There were no shortcuts to concentration, he had learned that much from his uncle.

 

He breathed in. There were the woods, the animals in the trees, the life growing in the topsoil, and deeper, the roots. Further away was the ocean, churning itself high with a storm. Ben let himself be tossed into the air by a wave, finding the birds and letting them take him into the skies. The Force ran through it all.   


This he already knew how to do, to run through a world, to see its currents of life. He pushed himself further, up to the stars. But so many were just fire, incessant brightness burning away into space until there was nothing left. He wanted life, creatures like himself that could feel the Force like he could. Yet there were so many stars, so many planets with nothing for him. How far could his consciousness stretch until he found another? 

And then it was there. Far, far away on some planet with almost no waters. Nothing carving new paths through its surfaces, and almost no life except that which lived deep inside its sands. But Ben could feel a being, Force Sensitive and powerful, crying out as loudly as it could.    
_  
_ _ COME BACK! _

 

When Ben laid eyes on the girl he was shocked. She was so small, and yet her presence in the Force was hard to ignore. It rang with pain as he inspected its source.    
  
She was curled up on herself, asleep, still in her dirty clothes with three tiny buns perched atop her head. How could such a little thing resonate so much energy?    


Surely it must have been some kind of trick, Ben thought to himself. She couldn’t be so powerful at such a young age...

 

“Where’d you come from, mister?”    
  
He jumped in his skin. A little hazel eye had popped open and was watching him closely. Ben couldn’t help but flush a little, feeling like he was intruding. 

“Sorry, I -uhh- I just happened upon you here. Why are you here?”    
  
The little girl sat up and stared at him, blinking away the remnants of sleep. “It’s the only place I got to sleep. Don’ have any money yet.”   
  
His eyebrows shot all the way up. “Money? Why do you need money?”   
  
The little girl gave him a withering look, like he was the stupidest big kid she had ever met, the kind that only the very young could get away with.   
  
“So I can eat and get a tent.”

  
  
That’s when he took a moment to look at her surroundings. He thought they had just been in his own mind, that she appeared in his woods. Now he saw that she was sitting against a metal facade, outside in the sand, firmly planted on her world. And he had not left his, as he had thought... 

“Where are your parents?” Ben never expected to have to ask that question in his life, and found himself already scared by what her answer would be. Where he was from, no one would leave a child outside, alone, with no shelter or protection.    
  
The girl’s eyes turned from him and narrowed, “They left.”

“They left you?” Again, he was shocked. A child just deserted by both her parents? Those kinds of stories graced the papers his mother would read. He supposed they  _ were _ real stories, but they always seemed so far away. Like this girl was far away. But she was also right here with him. Ben felt the concern blooming fast in his chest.   
  
“They do that sometimes,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s been  _ really _ long this time. So I ran out of money.”    
  
They looked at each other for a long moment as Ben turned her situation over in his mind. Should he have hope they’d come back? What kind of life would they subject her to if they did?   
  
“Got any food, mister? I’m hungry,” she finally asked.   
  
Ben shook his head and the little girl gave him another disappointed look. Then she squatted and started drawing lines in the sand. 

  
  
Whatever was happening to her, she was too young for it. He could see now how thin she was, and that her small frame was more indicative of health than of age. The dirt wasn’t just a sign of a rambunctious brat, but of a child in need. He tried to hold back the tears that came, but they spilled down the front of his cream-colored robes like he had no say in the matter. It was all he could do to not make a sound and upset her further. If nothing else, she was content to draw crude starships in the sand.  


“Do you have a ship, mister?”   
  
Startled again, Ben had to gulp down the knot in his throat and pretend to rub his eyes to push the tears away. She was still scratching away, building some scene where she traveled through the stars. Another person had joined her. 

“No. But my dad has one.”   
  
Actually, now that he thought of it, nearly everyone in his family had one. His dad and Uncle Chewie had the Millennium Falcon. His mother had an elegant little cruiser for jetting between meetings and home. Uncle Luke had his X-Wing, even though he kept it in storage most of the time, and Uncle Lando seemed to have a different ship every time Ben saw him.    
  
“Will you take me up in it someday?”   
  
“What?”

She pointed at the other figure in the ship with her. “That’s you. You’re giving me a ride in your dad’s ship.”   
  
At first Ben was horrified. There was no way Han would let him. He hadn’t even seen his father in ages, not since he’d been sent to study with Uncle Luke. Things had been bad before he left. His mother reassured him that things were going alright between them now, but Ben couldn’t bring himself to believe her.   
  
“Yeah, maybe one day.”   
  
The girl smiled at him for the first time, and her smile was like a sunbeam opening up across the sky. Ben couldn’t help but smile back.  _ What a cute kid. _

“You have to promise to bring me back!  My parents might come back while I’m gone!”   
  
“Yeah, of course,” he answered, crouching down next to her pictures to get a better look. It was oddly relaxing to be wrapped up in conversation with a child. Like he was returning to a simpler time himself.

 

“What’s your name?” A planet was added to her collage.   
  
“Ben. What’s yours?”

“Rey!” she squeaked. “Where’s your dad? I didn’ see any ships today.”   
  
“No, I’m here alone.”    
  
“Oh,” she gave him a look of pity. One that he didn’t need, but when he thought to mention his Uncle Luke and the Jedi temple, Ben realized it might not be such a good idea. 

“Where do you want to go?” he asked instead. “When we can take a ride in my dad’s spaceship, that is.”

Rey stopped, her little buns bobbing for a second as her head jerked down. Ben could see her biting her lip in concentration.    
  
“...I don’ know. Someplace green?”   
  
Ben laughed. “Someplace green?”   
  
“Yeah! I saw some green once. It was so pretty! I wanna see more.”

There was definitely not a lot of green wherever she was. Too much sand. Life was harsh here. Too dangerous.

“I know just the place then.” He knew many places. He’d take Rey to all of them if he could. 

  
  
Briefly he thought to take her away and give her everything she lacked for in life. But within the next moment, Ben could hear his uncle’s grave voice admonishing him not to keep his attachments to people. A Jedi could not love one person more than the next, and that meant no family, no loved ones. But just as quickly as they had met, Ben had wanted to protect and provide for Rey as if she were his own sister. The feeling overwhelmed him. His inability to act stung throughout it all.    
  
She had been drawing curly puffs throughout her planet. Green things, he imagined. Some were fat and confined into the little ball, and others were very tall, seeming to leap out of the confines of the planet. But Rey had stopped to yawn.    
  
“Do you want to go back to sleep, Rey?” 

She nodded silently, her mouth still wide open as she came down from it.    
  
“Go ahead, little one.” Ben looked around for something to tuck her in with. There was nothing, so he shucked off an outer layer of his robes and bundled her up in it. 

“Sleep well…” He could feel his own exhaustion setting in. It had been a long day after all…   
  
Another big yawn from her tiny little mouth. “Tell...Tell your dad I’ll fix his ship if he takes me for rides. I’ll learn how.”    
  
Ben chuckled at that. Like the great Han Solo would let just anyone touch his precious ship. “I’ll tell him.”   
  
He moved to stand, but a small hand grasped his. “Don’ leave me alone.”   
  
“Don’t worry, little one. I’ll come back and we can go visit someplace green.”

 

She squeezed his hand and fell asleep with a smile still on her face. 

\----

Ben woke to someone’s touch. His uncle, shaking him roughly. As soon as Ben’s eyes peeked open, the older man spoke.    
  
“What have you been doing, Ben? We’ve been searching everywhere for you!” His tone was angry, as if he had caught his nephew doing something wrong.    
  
“I was doing my meditation assignment, as you asked!” Ben insisted, already hurt that he seemed to be in trouble. Master Luke himself fell asleep in their group meditations on a regular basis.

“You’ve been missing for six hours! We’ve been calling and calling for you!”    
  
It finally occurred to Ben that it was dark out, enough to see the stars and the moon glowing.

“I-I’m sorry, Master Luke.”    
  
Luke sighed as Ben sat up and moved to slide down from his perch. “What were you really doing?”

“Nothing! Just meditating!”    
  
Luke gave him a hardened look that told Ben his uncle knew that was a lie. Ben looked down.   
  
“I was practicing the Force projection thing you taught us,” he said, backtracking. “I wanted to see how far I could go.” 

Luke’s eyes widened. “How far did you go to make yourself pass out cold like that?”

“Not that far? I just wanted to see…”

Luke shook his head. “It’s too dangerous, Ben. Don’t do it again. You could seriously hurt yourself. Or die.” 

 

They walked back to the temple in silence, tears silently streaming down Ben’s face. He had lied to Rey, told her he’d let her fly in his dad’s ship, that he’d take her someplace green, that he’d be back. He hadn’t meant to lie, but now back in the coldness of reality, his words could have never been the truth. And that poor little girl didn’t deserve to be fed another long list of untruths.   
  
He wished he could help her. That he could find that planet and take her away from it and give her everything she wanted. That was selfless, right? That was serving the public interest, right? But even if he told his uncle about Rey, about her Force sensitivity, he knew his uncle would stop him and say something along the lines of, “We can’t take a child away without their guardian’s consent.” So he bit back his sobs and tried to stop them, his despair eating away at his heart.   
  
_ I’m so sorry, Rey...  _

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading, agirlfromniima! 
> 
> Your prompt was a fun challenge. The theories that Rey and Ben might have met as kids was always a more plausible one than some of the others out there. And I'd like to think that maybe, just maybe, Ben remembered those three buns when he saw Rey on Takodana...
> 
> Big thanks to [Zabeta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zabeta) for beta-ing this fic!


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